TULSA, Okla. — With the Olympics gliding into its final weekend, all those thrills out on the ice may have you or your kids itching to try figure skating or hockey. 2 News visited the We Street Ice Center to check out the cost of these winter sports.
8-year-old Scarlett Lord is a three-year veteran of figure skating. She now gets private coaching for her upcoming competition. But when she first started, she faced a challenge.
"Challenging was staying up on these blades until my teacher said get off the wall," Scarlett said.
Daniel Lord is Scarlett's older brother. Both started with learn-to-skate lessons, and now his favorite thing about the sport is clear.
"Jumping - I like jumping." Daniel said.
2 News asked their mom, Haili Lord, how lessons and gear add up.
"Right now, at the level my kids are, they just need some skates, tights for Scarlett, competition season the dresses - but they don't need a ton of gear yet," Lord said.
Over in the pro shop, Chase Boswell was kitting out the Childress brothers with hockey equipment.
"He has his skates, he has his shin guard, breezers, his shoulder pads, elbows, gloves, stick, helmet, metro jersey and socks," Boswell said.
The cost of outfitting varies by sport.
"For hockey I would say about $500. We have figure skates from about $200 up to about $1,000," Boswell said.
In the hockey rink, the Little Oilers 12-week course teaches fundamental skills.
"Agility, balance, control," said Chi-yin Tse, We Street Ice director of hockey.
The program offers different commitment levels with varying costs.
"One day a week of practice and a game is about $400, and then two days of practice and a game during the weekend is about $800," Tse said.
To help keep costs down, parents can rent gear rather than buy it. Since kids are growing fast at this age, parents cut costs with a lot of hand-me-downs and swapping outgrown or no longer needed gear.
Whether it's figure skating or hockey, you don't have to make a big commitment up front. You can always take the learn to skate first lesson for free to see if you really enjoy being out on the ice.
If committing to full-blown lessons is too much, you and your kids can still enjoy just stopping by the ice rink to enjoy a recreational skating session.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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